AP LIT Summer Exam Terms

simile

a figure of speech where an explicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike - like, as, than, etc

feminine symbols

ummm girly things… flowers, water, the moon, etc

metaphor

a figure of speech where an implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike

understatement

a figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants

juxtaposition

positioning opposites next to each other to heighten the contrast

connotation

what a word suggests beyond its basic definition; a words overtones of meaning

hyperbole

a figure of speech where exaggeration is used in the service of truth

alliteration

the repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words (map-moon, kill-code)

anaphora

where a word / phrase is related at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences

syntax

word organization and order

caricature

an imitation where certain characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a grotesque effect

allusion

an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference

apostrophe

a figure of speech where someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply

elegy

a type of literature defined as a song or poem, written in elegiac couplets, that expresses sorrow or lamentation , usually for one who had died